No Reason But Us

Chapter 57 : Forgive or not?

The next afternoon in the campus garden, Gage found his roommate helping out his friends from the film club to carry equipment inside a van. Even though Felix saw him, he just ignored him.

Still, Gage decided to approach him before he left. "Hey, man," he said to him with a friendly smile.

Felix put on a cold expression. "Gage, I'm busy," he responded and just continued to do what he did.

"You guys going to the drive-by?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

From that tone, Gage stopped beating around the bush. "Dude, come on. I'm sorry. Can't we work this out?"

"Didn't I make myself clear enough for you yesterday? I'm done with you. Especially, Courtney. You guys can have each other as best friends or whatever for all I care."

Gage could see his roommate was serious. "Felix, you're my best friend too."

"What kind of best friend am I when I lied to you and hung out with your faker ex-girlfriend?" Felix replied bluntly.

"I..." Gage uttered.

"What's going on?" Rita interrupted while Oddey looked quietly at them with concern, seeing that there was tension between the two guys. "Is everything okay here?"

The guys stopped, not wanting to show that they had a problem. "Yeah," Felix lied to his girlfriend. "Everything is fine."

The girls weren't convinced, yet they just brushed it off. "Okay. Are you coming with us, Gage?" Rita asked him.

"No," Felix answered quickly. "He's not. Also, he's just leaving. Right?"

Gage was wide-eyed that he was being shunned. "Ahem... yeah," he stammered. "See you later... buddy."

From that last part, that five-letter word, it touched a nerve to Felix, but it seemed that he was unaffected. "Mmmkay," he mumbled and got back to helping lifting equipment.

----

Later, Gage just spent his day walking around campus, dwelling on what was going on with his life. He felt he was betrayed by the girl he loved, and on top of that, he lost his best friend.

Out of all places, he decided to go to the auditorium. It was so quiet without the noises of the actors rehearsing or chattering anywhere that you could hear echoes of his footsteps.

Gage never wanted to be in that club in the first place, though the silence made him feel empty, and it wasn't because there were no people there. He gazed at the backdrop for the balcony scene that Oddey designed and made.

After that, there were boxes full of flowers made of used paper, which he remembered giving her a making them. It was the first time Oddey helped him practice. Her soft voice instructed him that it was okay to make mistakes and instructed him not to act like Romeo and just how he felt.

Every practice with her made Gage understand what Romeo truly felt and express it by acting. The same feeling that he had towards Oddey, his Juliet. However, those were all ruined by a betraying reality that caused him to lose his trust in her, yet why did it still feel wrong?

"Mr. Munro?" He heard a voice call out to him. Startled, the guy immediately turned around and saw that Madame Vestia was there, glancing at him with her brow lifted. "What are you doing here?"

"Uhm... I lost my jacket, and I think I left it here," Gage lied. "But... I think it's not here."

"I see..."

"Ahem... what brings you here, Madame Vestia?"

The professor looked up at the set. "No particular reason, I just love admiring the backdrops. Ms. Empirio has an exquisite eye for visual art. I know I shouldn't have favorites, but she's mine."